Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Mitsubishi Jidosha Engineering Kabushiki Kaisha

Toshiaki Isogai

Masato Nakamura

Atsushi Takeda

Satoru Takahashi

Seiichi Takasaki

Hiroki Arai

Yuichi Miyake

Mikiharu Shimoda

Hiroaki Kano

Shinji Hara

Mutsuo Muramatsu

Shigeyuki Nozumi

Atsushi Ogita

Syunichiro Ohma

Hiroyuki Inoue

Muneaki Kato

Takuma Nozaki

A rear part structure of a vehicle includes: a pair of right and left rear side members; a pair of side sills which are connected to the rear side members; a pair of sub frame side members respective one ends of which are connected to connecting parts between the rear side members and the side sills, the sub frame side members being extended to a rear side of the vehicle, in a manner inclined inward in a lateral direction of the vehicle; and a sub frame center member one end of which is connected to the other ends of the sub frame side members, the sub frame center member being extended to the rear side of the vehicle.

Rear part structure of vehicle

An electric vehicle has a first bracket () that supports a battery unit ()-side end of a power unit () and extends in a width direction of the vehicle. The first bracket () is coupled to a vehicle body through a first coupling section () formed in one end of the first bracket () and a second coupling section () formed in the other end, and the power unit () is coupled to the first bracket () through at least two inner coupling sections () that are located more inside than the first and second coupling sections () as considered in the width direction of the vehicle. A first fragile portion () is formed between the first coupling section () and the inner coupling section () closest to the first coupling section (), and between the second coupling section () and the inner coupling section () closest to the second coupling section (). The first fragile portion () is broken by a smaller impact load at the time of collision with the side where the power unit () is installed than at the time of collision with the side where the power unit () is not installed.

Electric vehicle

A battery unit mounted in an electric vehicle is provided with a battery case and a plurality of battery modules. The battery case includes a tray member on the lower side and a cover member on the upper side. The tray member is fixed to side members by a beam member extending in a width direction of a vehicle body. Each battery module is composed of a plurality of cells. Among all the cells contained in the battery case, at least those cells on the outer peripheral side which are located near a flank of the vehicle body are located on the tray member so that a lamination direction of cell elements is coincident with the width direction of the vehicle body.

The present invention comprises a column support fixed to a deck cross member extending along a width of a vehicle; a steering column supported by the column support; a column bracket disposed about an axis of the steering column in such a manner as to widen toward a front part of the vehicle, both ends of the column bracket being fixed to a body of the vehicle; and knee absorbers disposed at both sides of the column bracket, each of the knee absorbers having a base end fixed to the deck cross member and a front end facing the knees of an occupant, the front end coming into contact with the knees of the occupant. When the vehicle crashes, the occupant and his or her knees move forward to collide with the column bracket. The column bracket, however, is not displaced since both ends of the column bracket are fixed to the body of the vehicle. The knees of the occupant are guided forward along the surface of the column bracket to the right and left knee absorbers. This prevents the deformation of the steering column, and prevents the disturbance of the contracting function of a steering system for absorbing the impact energy. Moreover, the knee absorbers buckle and deform when the knees collide with them, and this results in the absorption of the impact energy to reduce the load that is applied to the knees. It is therefore possible to protect the knees of the occupant.

Occupant's knee protection system

Growing community of inventors

Nagoya, Japan

Toshiaki Isogai